


The Worst Birthday Ever

by virgvine



Category: Homestuck
Genre: happy birthday john, im so proud of you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 01:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18459056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virgvine/pseuds/virgvine
Summary: John had been feeling sort of down lately. His friends hadn't been talking to him as often as they normally had, and even worse, his birthday was right around the corner. It looked like he would be spending the day alone, unless somehow someone planned to change that.





	The Worst Birthday Ever

**Author's Note:**

> happy 413 everyone

John Egbert was a carefree kind of guy. He never really seemed to want to complain much, but lately there felt like there was something that felt a little off. In the twenty-three years he'd been around, he'd sort of gotten used to disappointment. His birthdays had never been all that great growing up, and he didn't think that today would be any different. It was ten years ago that he found out the game he'd been looking forward to playing had been fake all along, all the promotional stuff that was about it turned out to just be some comic that he'd never bothered to read. 

John had started the day on the wrong side of the bed. There was no reason for him not to be upset. As he woke up, he turned his head to look at his phone which had been plugged in and charging on his bedside table. He wasn't even sure why he had bothered really. Any sort of hope he had in his mind for a happy birthday message was gone as soon as he had seen that there weren't any new messages. Not even from Rose, who was usually on top of that sort of thing. His mood was as low as it could get. A small sigh slipped out of his lips as he moved to sit up, the covers falling off of him slowly. His hair was a mess, but whether it was from him not really caring what it looked like anymore or from him tossing and turning the night before was debatable. Nobody else was going to wish him a happy birthday from the looks of it, so maybe he could take a day to treat himself. 

Pushing the covered off of the rest of his body, John shifted himself so that his legs hung off the bed. He sent one last glance to his phone before he stood up, stretching himself out and he tried to wake up fully. He might as well just leave it in his room if nobody was going to message him anyway. As he made his way over to his closet to pick out something to wear, he let his mind wander. Briefly the thought of his friends surprising him with a party popped into his mind only to fizzle away as he pulled a plain blue shirt off of a hanger. There was no way they'd be planning something like that. 

For one thing, Dave and Rose lived on pretty much to other side of the country, and then Jade lived out on some island in the middle of the ocean. There was no doubt in his mind that they were all at home just enjoying their own lives without as much as a single thought directed towards him. After all, Jade hadn't messaged him in almost a week, and the conversations with Dave had all been short and almost felt rushed. Rose was the only one who'd really been talking to him regularly, but she hadn't made so much as single mention of his birthday. John assumed they'd just forgotten it altogether. And who could blame him? He couldn't think of a single time that his friends had ever acted like this before. Sure Jade had periods of time where she wouldn't respond to any of his messages, but it had never been as bad as this. 

His jaw as clenched as he hurriedly grabbed a pair of pants and some boxers and rushed out of his room, struggling to clear his head as he made his way to the bathroom. Maybe a hot shower would help to take his mind off of things. Once he had closed the door behind him, he set his clothes down by the sink and spent a few minutes just looking at himself in the mirror. The bags under his eyes had gotten worse over the last few weeks, but he couldn't exactly point out why. It could have been that he'd been staying up later to try and cram for all of his college courses, or it could have just been that he was overworking himself. Speaking of work, he couldn't quite remember if he had the day off or not. If he didn't, he would call in sick. He just needed a day to himself. 

Eventually John had pulled himself away from the mirror to strip down and get into the shower, the steaming hot water taking a load off his shoulders. He hummed softly to himself as he massaged shampoo into his hair, soon washing it out and just standing there under the water until it started to feel cold. He had gotten out once there was no more hot water left to indulge in, but had there had been an unlimited supply of heated water he would had stayed in there a whole lot longer. After he'd dried himself off and made sure his hair wouldn't be dripping water down the back of his shirt he got dressed into the clothes he'd picked out, once again taking a moment to stare at his reflection. He just looked tired. Maybe he could go out and get some wine and sit down to watch some of his favorite movies. He felt like that seemed like the best course of action. 

It didn't take him long to find his glasses and head out the door once he had a plan in mind. After all, there wasn't much more of a reason for him to stay cooped up in his room all day. It's not like he was looking forward to much. With his keys in hand, he stepped out of his house and glanced up to the sky. 

It was an average morning in Washington. The air was almost cold enough to make John consider going back inside and grab a sweater, but he decided against it after he figured it was best to just head out and get the stuff he wanted. There wasn't much of a point to go back in when he was sure he wouldn't be gone for more than half an hour. The sky was clear, which was a little bit odd, but to be fair it wasn't really unwelcome. The sun was already fairly high up in the sky, showing him that maybe it had been a bit later than he'd originally thought. 

With another soft sigh, he locked the door before he turned and started to head out to his car. He didn't take much notice of an unfamiliar car parked a few houses down, mostly just focused on getting to his own car and being able to head back home as quickly as possible. It didn't take long for John to unlock his car doors and slip into the driver's side seat, wasting no time in putting his keys into the ignition and wasting no time with pulling out of the driveway and heading off down the road. The radio was on quietly, providing just enough of a distraction to take John's mind off of yet another disappointing birthday. Once he was driving, it didn't take him long to get to the store. Maybe he would be able to at least make the day a little better for himself, even if nobody else cared enough to say anything to him. He slumped back against the seat as he drove, his eyes shifting to glance to the rear view mirror before his gaze turned back to the road. Maybe he could finally take some time for himself to just try and get some rest. 

That probably would be the best thing for him considering all the time he'd been working himself to the bone, maybe this was what he needed. Even if he wasn't fully about to convince himself of that. He shook his head after a minute and just tried to focus mostly on the road. Soon enough he'd gotten to the store, getting out as soon as he'd turned his car off. It didn't take long for John to get what he wanted, not taking any more than fifteen minutes. Soon he was back in his car and heading off to get some greasy breakfast food from the first place he saw, glad that there wasn't that long of a line. He pulled through the drive thru and a few minutes later John was paying for his food and just waiting at the window for it to be handed to him. 

John had been glad to be headed back home after not even being out for that long in the first place, but it felt like he'd been out for far too long. With some hot food sitting in a paper bag on his lap, he drove off again and started to head off to his house for a day to himself. The bottle of wine sat in a bag on the seat beside him, just waiting for John to reach in and take it. John at least had the decency to wait until he had gotten home. 

The drive wasn't that long, but it felt like it just kept stretching on and on. John moved one of his hands off the wheel to turn the radio up, letting the music that was playing take anyway any sort of thoughts he was having away. When John had finally pulled back into the driveway, he sat in his car for a few minutes longer than he had thought he would have. He turned his keys to turn the car off, then sat there in the comfortable silence until he felt like he didn't want to handle it anymore. Huffing softly to himself, he grabbed the keys and the two bags before getting out of the car and locking the door. He hurried up the stairs to his front porch, his keys still in his hand as he reached the door. 

Only, the front door seemed to be open. He knew he'd locked it before he'd left, so seeing it unlocked and open like that sent a little chill down his spine. Had somebody broke in? He didn't think he could handle that on today of all days. If someone was going to break in to steal everything he owned, he wished they could have chosen a different day. He reached back to his pocket for his phone, then his heart sank as he remembered that he'd left it up in his room before he'd left. His teeth tugged at his bottom lip as he started at the door. He didn't know if he really wanted to go in there, but he knew that he didn't really have just of a choice. 

John let out a slow breath as he shook his head and pushed the door open slowly, his hand damn near shaking. He was expecting someone to jump out at him and pull him in, but that didn't seem to happen. He stood there in the doorway, his body stiff as a board as he looked around the room that he could see. He swallowed thickly, stepping inside after he was sure he couldn't see anybody. Maybe he did just leave the door open. Stress did make you forget things after all. 

John stepped inside, letting the door shut behind him. He stood there for a minute or two, not sure what to expect. His body wasn't getting any less tense as he headed over to the kitchen, wanting to check to make sure that nobody else was in there. While it might not have been all that smart to do check the rooms on his own, it was the only thing that he really could consider doing. As he turned on the kitchen light, his eyes widened. 

"Surprise!" Four voices called out simultaneously. John's eyes widened as he stared into the kitchen, feeling tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. 

The first person he saw was he dad standing in the center of the room, a small smile on his face as he held a cake on his hand. It was bright blue and shaped like a gusher. His gaze would trail to the left, spotting Dave standing there with his shades and all. He had a box in his hands, and a smug look on his face. Rose and Jade were standing on the right, Rose looking happy to be there, and Jade looked like she was ready to jump out of her skin to hug John. John's lips soon spread into a wide smile. 

It looks like they hadn't forgotten after all.


End file.
